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OEClO  1< 


L161  — H4'. 


CACAO 


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FOUNDED  BY  MARSHALL  FIELD 


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Published  by 
FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 
1923 


OMHE 


The  flowering  and  Fruiting  Stem  of  the  Cacao  Tree. 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

DEPARTMENT  OF  BOTANY 
Chicago,  1923 

Leaflet  Numbeb  4 


Cacao 

Long  before  the  discovery  of  the  American  con- 
tinent, cacao  was  used  and  cultivated  from  Mexico  to 
Ecuador.  It  is  thus  a  distinctly  American  contribu- 
tion to  the  world's  food  resources. 

It  is  the  product  of  some  small  trees  indigenous  to 
the  shady  forests  of  northern  South  America.  It 
probably  also  grew  native  along  the  Gulf  Coast  as  far 
north  as  southern  Mexico.  The  original  extent  of  dis- 
tribution of  a  plant  so  useful  as  the  Cacao  tree  is  diffi- 
cult to  determine  with  exactness.  Its  use  has  no 
doubt  spread  from  one  native  tribe  to  another  over  a 
large  area  suitable  for  its  cultivation.  Besides,  in  the 
region  in  question,  there  has  apparently  been  a  shift- 
ing of  peoples  or  a  change  of  territories  occupied  by 
them  in  prehistoric  days.  It  is  even  possible  that  the 
cultivation  of  the  cacao  was  carried  northward  into 
Mexico  from  the  south.  There,  at  any  rate,  it  was 
used  by  the  Aztecs,  and  before  them  by  the  Toltecs. 
The  early  Conquistadores  made  its  acquaintance  at 
the  court  of  Montezuma  and  the  revenues  of  this  re- 
nowned monarch  consisted  in  part  of  cacao  beans. 
"Chocolatl"  was  served  to  the  king  in  a  golden  goblet, 
and  he  took  it  with  the  aid  of  a  tortoise-shell  spoon. 
His  fondness  for  it  must  have  been  prodigious  for  fifty 
pitchers  are  said  to  have  been  prepared  daily  for  his 
personal  consumption,  and  two  thousand  more  for  his 
court.^ 


'Prescott,  Bk.  IV,  Ch.  I. 

[25] 


2  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

The  readiest  source  of  information  about  the  Aztec 
use  of  cacao  is  of  course,  Prescott's  "Conquest  of 
Mexico."  In  a  note  there-  we  read  in  this  connec- 
tion: "Torquemada  has  extracted  particulars  of  the 
yearly  expenditure  of  the  palace  from  the  royal  ac- 
count book,  which  came  into  the  historian's  possession. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  items:  4,900,300  fan- 
egas  of  maize  (the  fanega  is  equal  to  about  100 
pounds)  ;  2,744,000  fanegas  of  cacao;  8,000  turkeys, 
1,300  baskets  of  salt;  besides  an  incredible  quantity 
of  game  of  every  kind,  vegetables,  condiments,  etc." 
A  cacao  consumption,  according  to  this,  almost  equal 
to  the  world's  entire  production  today ! 


OIDDO 


Fig.  1.  Aztec  glyph  or  pictojrraph  for  80  bales  of  cacao.  Each  pennant  stands 
for  20.  The  oval  figure  on  the  bale  is  the  sign  for  cacao  beans.  The  pictographer 
must  have  wanted  to  make  the  meaning  unmistakable,  or  he  desired  to  exercise  his 
artistic  skill,  for  to  the  usual  glyph  he  has  added  a  flower  growing  out  of  one  side  of  the 
bale,  as  from  the  trunk  of  a  cacao  tree.   (The  Book  of  Tributes). 

In  the  Book  of  Tributes^,  an  old  Mexican  codex, 
setting  forth  the  "Tributes  which  some  towns  of  Mex- 
ico paid  to  the  Emperor  Montezuma,"  there  are  speci- 


*Prescott,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  VI,  note  29. 

'Libro  de  Tributes,  in  collection  Lorenzo  Boturino. 

Antonio    Peiiafiel:      Monumentos   del   Arte    Mexicano   Antiguo. 

Berlin  1890. 


[26] 


Cacao 


Fig.  2.    Aztec  ?Iyph  for  20  baskets  heaped  with  cacao  beans  to  the  extent  of  four 
xiquipilli  each.     (The  Book  of  Tributes). 

fied  in  Aztec  glyphs  the  kind  and  number  of  articles 
annually  required  by  him  from  his  provinces.  The 
lists  include  arms,  apparel,  skins,  feathers,  shells, 
balsams,  resins,  perfumes,  maize,  peppers,  etc.  Cacao 
beans  are  mentioned  several  times,  e.  g.,  from  Cihuat- 
lan  80  bales  of  red  cacao,  from  Tlaltelolco  20  baskets 
containing  four  xiquipilli  (4x8000)  of  cacao  beans. 
The  district  of  Soconusco  must  have  been  famous  even 
then  for  its  cacao,  for  two  hundred  bales  were  re- 
quired from  there,  together  with  400  cups  for  drink- 
ing chocolate.  On  the  basis  of  the  information  in 
this  ancient  document,  the  revenues  of  Montezuma 


Fig.  3.    Aztec  glyph  for  400  chocolate  cups.     (The  Book  of  Tributes). 

[27] 


4  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

have  been  estimated.  His  yearly  quantum  of  cacao 
seems  to  have  been  about  a  thousand  porters'  loads, 
equivalent  to  perhaps  100,000  pounds,  with  chocolate 
cups  to  the  number  of  1600. 

As  to  the  ancient  manner  of  preparation  of  the 
favorite  beverage,  Prescott*  states,  "They  had  a  way 
of  preparing  the  froth  of  it,  so  as  to  make  it  almost 
solid  enough  to  be  eaten."  And  again  in  a  foot- 
note where  he  quotes  "Anonymous  Conqueror" :  '  "The 
froth  delicately  flavored  with  spices  and  some  other 
ingredients  was  taken  cold  by  itself.  It  had  the  con- 
sistency almost  of  a  solid,"  and  the  writer  is  very  care- 
ful to  inculcate  the  importance  of  "opening  the  mouth 
■wide,  in  order  to  facilitate  deglutition,  that  the  foam 
may  dissolve  gradually,  and  descend  imperceptibly,  as 
it  were,  into  the  stomach."  ' 

The  Franciscan  monk  Ximenes,  who  published  an 
abstract  of  Hernandez'  manuscript  on  Mexican  natural 
products  before  the  appearance  of  that  work,  is  au- 
thority for  the  following  account':  "She  who  sells 
prepared  cacao  grinds  it  first  in  this  way,  breaks  or 
pounds  the  kernels;  the  second  time  grinds  it  more; 
the  third  or  last  time  grinds  it  still  finer,  mixing  it 
with  grains  of  corn,  cooked  and  washed,  and  this  being 
done  adds  a  little  water  in  a  jar.  If  a  small  quantity 
is  added  it  makes  a  rich  cacao,  if  too  much  no  foam 
results  and  in  order  to  produce  the  very  best  it  is  made 
and  preserved  as  follows:  namely  it  is  strained,  and 
after  straining  it  is  lifted  in  order  to  drain,  foam  is 
formed  and  is  set  aside  and  the  remainder  sometimes 
becomes  very  thick,  and  water  is  added  after  grinding. 
The  one  who  knows  how  to  make  it  well,  sells  it  good 
and  fine,  that  only  the  Senores  drink  it ;  it  is  soft,  foamy 
brown  red  and  pure,  without  much  paste.     Sometimes 


'Book  I,  Ch.  V,  note  45. 

'Cecilio  A.  Robelo:  Diccionario  de  Aztequismos,  etc.  Cuemavaca, 
1904. 

[28] 


Cacao  5 

they  add  aromatic  spices  and  even  honey  from  bees, 
and  some  rose  water,  but  the  cacao  that  is  not  good 
has  much  sediment  and  water  and  does  not  make  any 
foam  but  only  froth." 

A  similar  account  of  the  preparation  of  the  cacao 
in  ancient  Mexico  is  given  by  Joyce^  as  follows: 
"The  beans  were  first  roasted  in  pans  of  pottery  and 
then  ground  on  stones  with  a  little  water.  The  result- 
ant paste  was  put  into  calabash  cups,  more  water 
added,  and  occasionally  a  little  spice." 

Or,  in  another^  manner:  "The  nut  was  pounded 
and  boiled  in  water  with  a  little  maize  flour,  the  oil 
was  skimmed  off  and  the  mixture  strained  and  poured 
into  another  vessel,  so  as  to  produce  a  froth.  Some- 
times honey  and  vanilla  were  added,  and  it  was  gen- 
erally taken  after  food."  Such  a  dish  of  cacao  and 
maize  flour  constitutes  many  a  Mexican  breakfast 
today.  The  Chorotegas  colored  the  drink  red  with 
Anatto  seed.  Among  the  Nicaraguans  such  a  drink, 
prepared  with  cold  water,  sugar  and  spice,  is  known 
as  "tiste."  It  is  beaten  to  a  froth  with  a  swizzle  stick 
held  vertically  between  the  palms  of  the  hands  and 
rapidly  rotated  with  a  backward  and  forward  motion. 
The  swizzle  stick  functions  as  a  primitive  and  some- 
what inefficient  egg-beater.  It  is  often  cut  from  a 
natural  branch,  forked  or  with  a  whorl  of  small  twigs 
as  spokes.  It  is  even  now  a  famous  household  utensil 
in  the  Caribbean  region,  and  is  employed  in  the  mixing 
of  cooling  drinks.  Since  its  adoption  by  the  white 
population,  however,  a  devotion  to  the  swizzle  stick  no 
longer  necessarily  implies  an  addiction  to  foaming 
chocolate.  The  Mexican  term,  "chocolatl,"  from 
which  our  word  "chocolate"  is  derived,  actually  means 
a  foaming  drink,  "choco"  =  "foam,"  "atl"  =  "water" 


^Thomas  A.  Joyce,  Mexican  Archeology,  p.  155. 

7Joyce,  Central  American  and  West  Indian  Archeology,  p.  39. 

[29] 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

or  "drink."  The  Cacao  tree  was  called  Cacaoquahuitl 
or  Cacahnatl. 

The  beans  were  used  as  small  currency  in  old 
Mexico.  The  unit  was  a  score,  20  beans ;  20  x  20  or 
400  made  a  Tzontle;  twenty  (20)  Tzontles  or  8000 
cacaos  one  Xiquipilli,  and  3  Xiquipillis  a  load.  Weights 
formerly  did  not  exist  there  and  large  quantities  were 
measured  in  baskets  or  bags  assumed  to  hold  a  speci- 
fied number,  just  as  farmers  today  by  preference  esti- 
mate their  produce  by  counting  and  measuring  in 
bushels  and  pecks,  rather  than  by  weighing.  On  the 
Mosquito  Coast  the  habit  of  using  cacao  beans  as 
money  is  said  to  be  prevalent  among  the  Indians  even 
at  the  present  time,  as  is  the  use  of  coca  leaves  for  the 
same  purpose  in  Peru,  and  tobacco  in  many  places. 
It  was  of  this  use  of  the  beans  that  Peter  Martyr* 
exclaimed,  "O  felicem  monetam",  etc.,  "blessed  money, 
which  exempts  its  possessor  from  avarice,  since  it 
cannot  be  long  hoarded  nor  hidden  under  ground." 
However,  there  was  a  complaint  in  Mexico  that  the 
Indians  would  remove  the  kernels  and  fill  the  empty 
shells  with  clay. 

Cacao  was  introduced  into  Europe  early  in  the  16th 
century,  at  first  into  Spain,  There  it  was  for  a  time 
the  monopoly  of  the  Conquistadores,  but  interest  in  the 
new  beverage  must  have  been  considerable,  for  "it  was 
also  prepared  secretly,  and  was  taken  with  wine  and 
hot  beer.""  Outside  of  Spain  it  remained  completely 
unknown,  so  long  that  a  ship-load  of  cacao  beans, 
seized  by  the  English  in  1579,  was  burned  as  worth- 
less. A  Florentine,  long  resident  in  the  West  Indies, 
made  known  its  manner  of  preparation  in  Italy  and 
its  use  gradually  spread  on  the  continent,  though  not 


^Peter   Martyr,   De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  4. 

Prescott,  Hist.  Mexico,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  V,  note  27;   Bk.  IV,  Ch.  II, 

p.  140. 

Warburg  Planzenwelt,  VII,  p.  425. 

[80] 


»■ 


Cacao  7 

without  opposition.  Its  introduction  into  Prussia  was 
prohibited  by  Frederic  the  Great.  The  Parisian  physi- 
cian Bachot,  however,  in  a  thesis  to  the  faculty  of 
medicine,  praised  the  cacao  as  one  of  the  most  noble  of 
discoveries,  far  more  worthy  to  be  the  food  of  the 
gods  than  are  nectar  and  ambrosia. 

When  Linnaeus  sat  down  to  straighten  out  the 
confusion  of  terminology  existing  in  the  herbals,  and 
to  confer  unmistakable  and  distinctive  names  on  all 
the  animals  and  plants  of  which  he  could  learn  and 
could  muster  a  definite  description,  he  coined  a  name 
for  the  chocolate  tree,  from  two  Greek  words,  (^£6s) 
theos,  god  and  (fSpwixa)  broma,  food — Theobroma, 
"food  for  the  gods".  This  remains  the  scientific  name 
for  Cacao  trees  in  general. 

The  particular  kind  or  species  of  Cacao  trees  which 
furnishes  the  beans  of  commerce  was  designated  as 
Theobroma  Cacao.  Other  species  of  Theobroma  also 
furnish  nourishing  food  or  drink  to  a  lesser  extent 
but  are  less  valuable  or  less  amenable  to  cultivation. 
There  are  about  a  dozen  of  these.  The  best  known  of 
them  is  the  Tiger  Cacao,  or  "Pataste",  Theobroma 
bicolor,  of  Colombia  and  Rio  Negro,  a  much  larger  and 
taller  tree  than  the  Cacao  tree  proper.  The  famous 
cacao  of  Soconusco  is  said  to  be  the  product  of  Theo- 
broma angustifolia,  and  the  cacao  of  Esmeralda  of 
still  another  species.  The  beans  of  an  inferior  kind 
were  used  in  Mexico  as  alms  for  the  poor.  The  rest, 
all  natives  of  tropical  America,  are  of  some  local 
importance  and  the  fruit  of  several  is  gathered  in 
Brazil  where  they  grow  wild.  Some  of  them  may  be 
adaptable  for  stock  or  for  grafting,  as  recent  experi- 
ments would  indicate. 

The  cultivated  Cacao  is  a  small  shade-loving  tree, 
which  is  usually  kept  down  in  plantations  to  about  the 
size  of  a  peach  tree,  but  grows  much  more  rapidly 
and  bears  large  simple  leaves  which  remain  a  long 

[31] 


8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

time  on  the  tree.  It  produces  its  flowers  and  fruits  in 
a  curious  manner  peculiar  to  certain  members  of  the 
tropical  forest  flora.  The  smaller  branches  and  ter- 
minal twigs  support  the  foliage  only,  while  the  incon- 
spicuous yellow  and  purple  flowers  spring  in  clusters 
from  points  on  the  bark  of  the  trunk  and  of  the  larger 
branches.  It  has  been  suggested  in  explanation,  that 
this  arrangement  facilitates  the  finding  of  the  flowers 
by  low-flying  insects  that  visit  and  pollinate  them. 
They  do  not  have  to  search  for  the  small  blossoms 
among  a  crowded  mass  of  foliage  on  top,  but  can  find 
them  readily  on  the  bare  trunk  near  the  forest  floor. 
However  that  may  be,  the  fruiting  tree  presents  a 
striking  appearance.  While  very  young,  the  fruits  look 
like  miniature  green  cucumbers  sharply  pointed  at  both 
ends;  as  they  enlarge  and  mature,  they  become  great 
"pods",  five  to  seven,  or  even  ten  inches  long,  with 
longitudinal  grooves  alternating  with  ribs  on  the  sur- 
face. They  acquire  a  texture  recalling  that  of  a  thin- 
skinned  squash,  and  a  color  varying  from  a  lemon  or 
ochre  yellow  to  a  deep  red.  Hanging  singly  or  in  small 
bunches  around  the  slim  trunk  of  the  tree,  they 
scarcely  look  as  if  they  had  grown,  but  rather  as  if 
they  had  been  accidentally  or  purposely  hung  there. 
The  pods  are  picked  when  ripe  and  gathered  into  piles. 
The  workers  on  the  plantation  then  sit  down  to  break 
the  outer  casing  which  is  of  no  further  value,  in  order 
to  secure  the  contained  seeds,  the  cacao  beans,  which 
furnish  the  chocolate.  In  a  well-filled  pod  there  may 
be  fifty  of  these,  usually  there  are  not  so  many,  all 
attached  to  a  central  core  and  covered  with  a  white, 
slippery  and  soft,  mucilaginous  pulp,  of  a  pleasant  acid 
taste.  This  layer  is  removed  or  is  completely  destroyed 
in  the  process  of  sweating  or  fermentation  to  which 
the  beans  are  subjected  for  some  days  before  they  are 
dried  for  the  market.  For  this  purpose  they  are  piled 
into  heaps  which  are  turned  occasionally.     The  fer- 

[32] 


Cacao 


mentation  is  thought  to  be  initiated  by  a  yeast  fungus, 
and  an  enzyme  is  said  to  bring  out  the  characteristic 
chocolate  flavor  of  the  beans.  Their  kernels,  origin- 
ally white  to  purple  in  color,  assume  a  brownish  hue, 
while  the  papery  thin  shell  often  becomes  discolored 
and  spotted.  The  subsequent  process  of  drying  is 
necessary  to  prevent  moulding  and  spoilage.  To  clean 
or  polish  the  beans  they  are  sometimes  treaded  with 
the  naked  feet,  or  "danced".  In  some  localities  they 
are  colored  with  a  red  earth  to  improve  their  appear- 
ance. The  dried  "beans"  will  keep  for  a  long  time. 
A  bearing  tree  in  good  condition,  will  yield  a  pound  to 
two  pounds  of  dried  beans,  usually  in  two  principal 
harvests  occurring  about  the  beginning  and  middle  of 
the  year,  though  pods  keep  ripening  to  a  certain 
extent  continuously.  The  cacao  bean  "eats  like  a  rich 
nut",  but  has  a  rather  bitter  taste. 

It  is  perhaps  well  to  point  out  here,  that  in  spite 
of  the  similarity  of  names,  cacao,  or  cocoa,  has 
nothing  to  do  either  with  the  cocoa-nut,  more  properly 
spelled  coco-nut,  from  the  Coco-palm;  nor  with  coca, 
the  source  of  cocaine,  obtained  from  the  leaves  of  the 
Coca  shrub  of  the  Andean  region. 

As  is  the  case  among  almost  all  cultivated  plants 
there  are  many  varieties  of  the  Cacao  tree  proper, 
differing  in  minor  particulars  and  in  size  and  shape 
of  the  pods  and  in  the  color  of  the  kernels.  The  best 
known  of  them  are :  the  Criollo,  which  furnishes  the 
finest  chocolate;  the  Forastero,  much  resembling  the 
former,  but  somewhat  more  hardy  and  yielding  beans 
of  not  quite  so  fine  a  grade;  the  Calabacillo,  with 
smooth  pods,  still  easier  to  grow  but  yielding  an 
inferior  product.  Of  all  of  these,  there  are  both  red 
and  yellow  varieties. 

The  cacao  beans  are  put  in  sacks  and  shipped  to 
the  manufacturers  of  chocolate  products.  In  the  fac- 
tories they  are  first  of  all  freed  from  the  outer  shell 

[33] 


10  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

by  a  slight  crushing  and  winnowing.  The  kernels 
are  known  in  the  trade  as  "cacao  nibs".  They  are 
roasted  like  coffee  in  iron  cylinders  to  develop  the 
aroma,  to  modify  the  bitter  taste  and  to  improve  the 
color.  They  are  then  either  ground  directly,  without 
any  addition,  into  a  dark-browii  paste  which  we  know 
in  its  moulded  form  as  "bitter  chocolate",  or  they 
are  subjected  to  other  treatment.  Sugar  or  milk 
products  and  flavoring  matter,  principally  vanilla  or 
its  substitutes,  are  added  to  increase  the  palatability, 
or  starch  to  increase  the  bulk  of  the  mass  before  it  is 
pressed  into  moulds  and  made  into  convenient  shapes 
and  packages  for  the  trade  and  for  the  consumer.  The 
cacao  shells  contain  some  theobromine  (1%)  and  are 
sometimes  ground  up  and  are  knowTi  to  the  trade  as 
"miserable",  or  "shells",  sold  as  a  poor  substitute  for 
cacao,  "cacao  coffee"  or  "cacao  tea".  They  are  seldom 
added  to  the  chocolate  mass,  never  to  the  better  grades. 
Lately  they  have  been  employed  as  cattle  fodder.  If 
cacao  powder  is  desired,  the  ground  mass  is  usually 
heated  slightly  and  subjected  to  pressure  to  express 
about  one-half  of  the  easily  liquified  fat,  which  is 
present  in  large  quantity.  This  is  then  used  separately 
as  "cacao  butter".  It  is  a  fixed  oil,  a  soft  solid  at 
ordinary  temperatures,  with  a  pleasant  odor  and  flavor 
of  chocolate.  At  first  yellowish  in  color,  it  becomes 
white  with  age.  It  has  excellent  keeping  qualities 
and  does  not  readily  turn  rancid.  It  is  therefore 
valuable,  being  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  filling  for  chocolate  creams,  and  in  the  drug  trade 
for  the  preparation  of  salves  and  pomades. 

Cacao  is  never  entirely  soluble,  but  the  drink 
when  prepared  is  a  suspension  of  cacao  in  the  fine  and 
thin  paste  of  the  natural  starch  of  the  bean.  To  make 
a  smoother  beverage  the  starch  content  may  be 
increased  somewhat  in  the  manufacture  of  "break- 
fast cocoa".     The  sweetened  cacao  may  have  also  all 

[341 


Cacao  11 

of  the  natural  fat,  plus  sugar.  To  make  the  so-called 
"soluble  cocoa"  or  Dutch  cocoa,  a  small  quantity  of 
an  alkali  is  added,  in  which  the  tannin  and  theobro- 
mine are  soluble. 

The  popularity  of  cacao  is  due  to  its  combination 
of  pleasant  taste,  and  stimulating  and  nourishing 
properties.  The  latter  depend  partly  on  its  fat  con- 
tent, but  there  is  also  naturally  present  in  cacao  beans 
starch  and  vegetable  proteins.  A  drink  of  chocolate 
or  cocoa,  without  any  addition,  is  consequently  much 
more  nourishing  than  either  coffee  or  tea,  with  which 
it  is  comparable  in  respect  to  stimulating  properties. 
The  stimulating  substance,  an  alkaloid,  is  practically 
the  same  in  the  case  of  all  of  these,  producing  the 
same  physiological  effect.  It  is  caffein  in  coffee,  thein 
in  tea,  theobromine  and  caffein  in  cacao.  In  cacao  the 
caffein^"  is  present  in  less  quantity  than  in  either  of 
the  other  beverages.  There  is  also  a  volatile  oil,  as 
in  coffee,  to  which  must  be  attributed  some  of  the 
exhilarating  properties  and  flavor. 

Hundreds  of  millions  of  pounds  of  cacao  beans  are 
now  produced  and  consumed  annually.  In  1921,  the 
United  States  imported  three  hundred  million  pounds, 


"'Theobromine  and  caffein  may  be  extracted  and  isolated  as 
alkaloids  and  as  such  are  white,  fleecy,  crystalline  substances  of 
a  bitter  taste.  Medicinally  they  are  used  as  stimulating  drugs 
acting  upon  the  nervous  system  by  increasing  the  arterial  ten- 
sion and  blood-pressure.  They  also  stimulate  the  cerebral  cen- 
ters and  respiration.  The  "nervousness"  produced  by  their  ex- 
cessive use  is  due  to  continual  stimulation  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem and  particularly  of  the  spinal  cord. 

Theobromine  and  caffein  are  closely  related.  Chemically  the 
former  may  be  prepared  from  the  latter. 

Other  stimulating  drinks  in  which  caffein  is  the  active  principle 
are:  Kola,  from  the  Kola  "nut",  the  product  of  another  tree  of 
the  Chocolate  family,  and  Guarana,  from  a  Brazilian  bush 
(Paulinia  Cupana)  of  which  the  seeds  are  gfround  up,  and  sold 
and  used  by  the  natives  like  cacao. 

Of  non-caffein  containing  substitutes  for  cacao,  locally  used  in 
poor  districts,  may  be  mentioned  the  roasted  and  ground 
kernels  of  the  pea-nut  or  ground-nut.  In  Mexico  the  name  of 
the  pea-nut  is  curiously  enough  "cacao  of  the  ground" 
iCacahuate) . 

£86] 


12  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

valued  at  twenty-three  million  dollars.  Most  of  the 
supply  is  still  derived  from  northern  South  America, 
particularly  from  Ecuador  and  Brazil,  from  the  West 
Indian  San  Domingo,  and  from  the  island  of  Trinidad 
off  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco.  Each  of  these  countries 
furnishes  over  twenty  thousand  tons  each  year.  Vene- 
zuela exports  a  little  more  than  half  as  much ;  the 
Caribbean  island  Grenada  about  a  quarter,  or  about 
five  thousand  tons  a  year.  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  Haiti, 
Jamaica,  and  other  West  Indian  islands  produce 
smaller  quantities,  while  Mexico  evidently  supplies 
only  a  negligible  amount  for  export.  In  all,  the  Amer- 
ican production  amounts  to  over  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  tons.  The  rest  of  the  world's  output  com- 
bined, adds  only  a  third  more  to  the  available  supply. 
The  cultivation  of  the  Cacao  has  been  undertaken  on 
the  West  Coast  of  Africa;  on  the  Gold  Coast,  in 
Cameroons  and  in  the  Congo  Free  State,  but  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  African  supply  is  furnished 
by  Sao  Thome.  This  small  Portuguese  island  in  the 
Gulf  of  Guinea,  alone  yields  more  cacao  beans  than 
any  single  American  country.  In  Asia,  cacao  growing 
has  been  tried,  and  Ceylon  and  the  Dutch  East  Indies 
together  sometimes  yield  as  much  as  the  island  of 
Grenada;  but  on  account  of  serious  inroads  of  fungus 
diseases  of  the  trees.  Cacao  has  not  been  a  success  in 
this  region,  which  otherwise  is  perfectly  suitable,  as 
to  temperature,  rainfall  and  freedom  from  drought, 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  tree. 

The  African  supply  goes  directly  to  Europe.  '  It  is 
not  considered  to  be  of  a  high  grade.  The  American 
product  is  superior.  That  from  a  district  in  Guate- 
mala, Soconusco,  has  the  reputation  of  being  the  best 
of  all,  but  like  genuine  Mocha  coffee  and  the  very  finest 
of  tea,  it  scarcely  ever  comes  into  the  market.  Of  the 
export  grades,  the  heavy  beans  from  Ecuador  and 
from   western   Venezuela,   those   from   Colombia  and 

[36] 


Cacao  13 

Esmeralda  are  the  most  highly  esteemed.  Trinidad 
cacao  takes  a  high  rank.  Brazil  and  Cayenne  ship  the 
less  desirable,  unfermented  grade  of  beans  gathered 
partly  from  trees  growing  wild  in  the  forest.  The 
price  has  recently  been  low  and  the  gro\ving  not  very 
profitable  to  the  planters.  The  trees  require  consider- 
able care.  As  in  the  case  of  many  tropical  products 
a  low  price  is  dependent  on  very  cheap  labor,  and  the 
recent  general  increase  of  labor  costs,  without  a  corre- 
sponding rise  in  the  price  of  the  product  of  the  plan- 
tations, has  made  production  in  places  almost  an 
impossibility.  Unprofitable  plantations  are  permitted 
to  go  to  ruin.  They  continue  to  yield  some  cacao  for  a 
few  years  without  care.  When  a  dwindling  of  the 
supply  eventually  reacts  on  the  price,  active  produc- 
tion will  presumably  be  started  again,  till  a  commer- 
cial satiety  is  produced.  New  trees  come  into  bearing 
in  their  fifth  or  sixth  year.  Cacao  growing  is  evidently 
a  somewhat  risky  business.  Particularly  is  this  true 
since  the  grower  has  to  contend  with  a  host  of  pests 
and  diseases,  chiefly  caused  by  parasitic  fungi  which 
are  extremely  destructive  to  the  trees  where  they 
obtain  a  hold. 

In  some  cases  these  fungi  have  been  traced  to  the 
taller  trees  which  are  planted  among  the  Cacao  trees 
for  shade.  Many  kinds  of  shade  trees  have  been  tried, 
such  as  palms,  the  large-leaved  Anchory  Pear,  and 
others,  but  the  favorite  one  is  the  leguminous  Madre 
de  Cacao,  "Mother  of  the  Cocoa",  the  Bois  immortelle 
of  Trinidad.  This  is  a  rapidly  growing  deciduous  tree 
which  easily  towers  over  the  low  chocolate  trees,  lend- 
ing an  interesting  note  of  bright  color  and  variety  to 
the  plantations,  particularly  in  our  winter  season. 
These  tall  conspicuous  trees  then  shed  their  leaves 
and  are  covered  only  with  bright  red  flowers.  At  this 
time  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  less  intense,  even  in  most 
of  the  tropical  places  where  the  Cacao  grows  in  the 

[37] 


14  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

northern  hemisphere,  and  the  full  amount  of  light 
not  only  does  no  harm,  but  may  even  be  desirable. 
During  the  rest  of  the  year,  when  shade  is  required, 
these  shade  trees  are  in  foliage. 

The  rapidly  increasing  use  of  cacao,  particularly 
in  the  form  of  sweets,  bids  fair  to  keep  pace  with 
production  for  some  time  to  come. 

B.  E.  Dahlgren 


In  the  Hall  of  Plant  Life,  Hall  29,  on  the  second  floor  east, 
may  be  seen  a  reproduction  of  a  Cacao  tree  bearing  flowers 
and  fruit,  also  an  enlarged  flower,  a  fruit  in  section,  cacao 
"beans"  and  a  pod  of  the  Tiger  Cacao. 

The  economic  exhibit  of  Cacao  is  to  be  found  among  the 
vegetable  food  products  on  the  south  side  of  the  adjoining 
Hall  25. 


[38  J 


An  Opened  Cacao  Pod. 


r'^vr^'   -CFTHE 


I 


